Blueberry Streusel Muffins

A little something different this month for the Barefoot Bloggers. We got to pick between two different Barefoot Contessa Blueberry Muffin recipes. We could either make her Blueberry Coffee Cake muffins or her Blueberry Struesel muffins. I decided to go for the struesel version because - well because there is struesel on them.

I had a bunch of blueberries in the freezer and almost used them but it is blueberry season and they were on sale very cheap so I decided to go for the fresh ones. I kind of doubt it makes much of a difference in muffins but might as well. The recipe went together very easily and the muffins were delicious. I could have used more struesel but maybe that is just me. The copy of the recipe I was using didn't say how many it made and I started it late at night so I currently have half the batter in the freezer and will probably attempt to make that in a day or two. I'll post a comment on how that goes.

Thanks to Maria of Close to Home for this pick. Looks like she one upped me by picking her own berries. I'll have to do that soon since I know my 3 year old would enjoy it. I'm hoping for less desert this month - as you can see from this months posts I have been eating too much of it.

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

(Source: Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, page 244)

Makes about 24 muffins

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 2 cups buttermilk, shaken
• 1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 2 cups fresh blueberries (2 half-pints)

For the Streusel Topping

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in to a large bowl and blend with your hands. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, lemon zest, and eggs. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a fork, mixing just until blended. Fold the blueberries into the batter. Don’t overmix! With a standard (2 1/4″) ice cream scoop or large spoon, scoop the batter into the prepared cups, filling them almost full.
3. For the topping, place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until the butter is in very small pieces. Pour into a bowl and rub with your fingers until crumbly. Spoon about 1 tbsp of the streusel on top of each muffin. Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.